Milan – (Archyde.com)
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on Monday that the country will not make any decision on providing new military aid to Ukraine before February, due to political tensions, cost considerations and a shortage of military equipment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two weeks ago that Rome was considering supplying his country with air defenses, following a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Giorga Meloni in which she reaffirmed her government’s “full support” for Ukraine.
Shortly following that, Defense Minister Guido Cruzeto was sounding reticent regarding whether Italy would be able to supply Ukraine with air defense systems.
The newspaper quoted unidentified sources as saying that Meloni, who strongly supports Kiev, is facing opposition regarding the adoption of a decision to send weapons to Ukraine from her right-wing allies Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi.
The two politicians have long-standing ties to Moscow.
Another problem impeding the decision, La Repubblica writes, is the withdrawal of the Italian army’s air defense systems. Two out of five missile batteries are already assigned to Kuwait and Slovakia.
A third concern, according to the daily, is the cost of the weapons that are supposed to be sent to Kyiv.
Zelensky is pressing Ukraine’s Western allies to step up military aid to help counter Russian missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Italy, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Mario Draghi, sent five aid packages to Kyiv, which included military supplies.
Meloni’s government, which took over in October, has been working for weeks to arrange for a possible sixth package.
On the other hand, Sky News quoted a Western source on Monday as saying that Britain is considering providing Ukraine with tanks for the first time to help the country confront Russian forces.
Sky said that discussions have been underway for a few weeks regarding the delivery of the British Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tank to Ukraine.
